WASHINGTON — Companies that are developing small launch vehicles or who provide rideshare launch services say they expect new Chinese launch vehicles to drive down launch prices, raising concerns among some of unfair competition. During a panel discussion at the Satellite 2018 conference here March 12, executives of several launch providers said they expected small launchers under development or entering service in China, either by state-owned enterprises or private ventures, to sharply reduce launch prices in the coming years. “I think the Chinese are going to drive an order of…

This article originally appeared in the March 12, 2018 issue of SpaceNews magazine. The world’s biggest, best established satellite operators talk of broadband as an enormously lucrative opportunity. But in truth, nothing is causing them more frustration. Demand for ever-faster broadband internet connections is maxing out today’s satellites, setting off an industry-wide stampede toward increasingly powerful high-throughput satellites (HTS). While that might sound like a good thing, the rush to HTS is driving down bandwidth prices so fast that some fairly low-mileage satellites are struggling to keep up. Seasoned operators,…

WASHINGTON — The launch of several cubesats by an American company without authorization from a federal agency has the rest of the industry worried of a potential regulatory and public relations backlash. IEEE Spectrum first reported March 10 that Swarm Technologies, a Silicon Valley-based startup operating in stealth mode, flew four picosatellites as secondary payloads on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in January. The SpaceBee satellites were identified in materials by the Indian space agency at the time as “two-way satellite communications and data relay” satellites, but did not…

VICTORIA, British Columbia — The Canadian government will support the development of low-Earth-orbit satellites that can bring internet services to rural parts of the country. Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced a 100 million Canadian dollars ($82 million) initiative in the 2018 Canadian government budget released Feb. 27. The Liberal Party government wants to extend internet service to rural areas in the country and believes that low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites could prove to be the solution. “Networks of LEO satellites have the potential to provide Canadians living in rural and remote areas with…

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California — Planet and Spire, operators of the two largest commercial cubesat constellations in orbit, say they manage their fleets to prevent retired spacecraft from lingering in space beyond internationally accepted guidelines. Speaking at the SmallSat Symposium here Feb. 7, officials from Planet and Spire said the companies have self-imposed rules to ensure their satellites burn up in Earth’s atmosphere within 25 years of shutting down, as suggested by the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination (IADC) committee. Earth-observation company Planet has 200 satellites in low Earth orbit, making its…

WARSAW, Poland — Shortly after a Finnish company successfully launched the country’s first commercial SAR microsatellite, Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö signed the country’s first comprehensive space legislation. The act was drafted by a working group set up to establish a clear framework for the country’s space industry. The legislation creates regulations for local satellite operators, a licensing scheme for space industry players, and the rules for maintaining a national satellite register. The act’s signing Jan. 12 was preceded by the launch of the country’s first commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR)…

WASHINGTON — The successful launch of an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) Jan. 11 marked not just the return to flight of the rocket but also major achievements for several of the companies with payloads on board the vehicle. The PSLV lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Jan. 11, carrying a Cartosat-2 remote sensing satellite and 30 secondary payloads. All the payloads were successfully deployed into two low Earth orbits within two hours of launch. The launch was the first for…

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully returned to flight Thursday night. The PSLV lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 10:59 p.m. Eastern and placed into orbit a Cartosat 2 imaging satellite and 30 secondary payloads. Among the secondary payloads were four Dove cubesats for Planet, four Lemur-2 cubesats for Spire, a prototype broadband smallsat for Telesat and the first synthetic aperture radar smallsat for Finnish company Iceye. The launch was the first for the PSLV since an August mission that failed when the rocket’s payload fairing did…

WASHINGTON — Telesat is some three to five months ahead of OneWeb in launching low-Earth orbit telecommunications satellites, and barring a surprise launch from SpaceX, will likely be the first new mega-constellation to put hardware into operation. Two prototype satellites ordered in April 2016 are awaiting launch before year’s end — one on a Russian Soyuz and another on an an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle — paving the way for a larger constellation of over 100 small satellites. Telesat LEO is the biggest satellite project the company has undertaken in…

PARIS — Several startups offering dedicated launches for small satellites say they are on the verge of carrying their first customers, but none so far have progressed beyond test launches. Finding a ride to space remains a challenge for the ever-growing number of small satellite operators; for Spaceflight Inc., this is a good problem. The Seattle-based company is now regularly booking launch slots for other companies’ smallsats on U.S. cargo missions to the International Space Station, Russian Soyuz missions and, despite protectionist U.S. policies, India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).…